hi i just rehomed a royal who was no longer wanted! he came to me this afternoon with his home and is now set up in my living room! he only has a heat lamp for warmth, 2 hides and a bowl! since i got him set up he's just been in his hide on the cold side. could this be because he's been moved around alot? when i held him he's very friendly and calm but does like his hide is that normal? i have to go tommorrow to get him some food as apparently he hasnt been fed in a month so going to get him some fuzzies! also a heat mat and thermometers so i can tell whats going on in there! any help is appreciated! paul
Yes, its very normal for them to stay in their hides. Yes he is probably quite stressed out from the move so I would leave him completely alone (no handling) for a week before offering food and don't handle until he's eating regularly. Fuzzy mice are a bit small for Royal Pythons, even hatchlings can take a small adult mouse or even better, a Rat Pup. How old/heavy/big is yours? Is the heat lamp on a thermostat? How are you measuring the temperatures? - Digital thermometers are much more accurate than analogue. Why are you buying a heat mat? - a bulb should be more than sufficient. What size enclosure is your Royal in? - Any photos so that we can help make suggestions?
Hi & welcome. Good questions to answer from Blackecho. Just one to add is there a bulb guard around the bulb? They can have a habit of wrapping themselves around the bulb and this can cause serious burning or death (as can a bulb or mat without a thermostat to control the heat).
ok so he's about 8 mths old around 20" give or take as only had him curled up round my hand! he doesnt look like he's been looked after too well as i really need to clean his viv out but dont want to disturb him too much just yet! there is no guard around the light so will be getting one tommorrow! along with thermometers! i'll try and get some fotos tommorrow if he'll let me!
Ok how about thermostat to run the bulb? This controls the minimum & maximum temps. Is the bulb infra red or ceramic?
I would say he could cope with small wiener rats but photos will help. Basically the idea is each feed to give them prey that weighs 10-15% of the snake's body weight. So if he is 1kg then 100-150g per feed. Once he's settled you can give him a weigh to guage from there. In the meantime get some prey that is between the same width and 1.5X the width of his/her widest part of body.
it is an infa red one and yes its on a thermostat. and i'll have to check what they have got at the shop tommorrow. they seem like a well stocked knowledgable place. so all sholud be good.
Yer good luck. Look forward to photos. Perhaps if they sell it get some artificial foliage to help him feel secure. Some people have logs & things for them to climb on, but you don't need to as they quite clumsy climbers! So if you do make sure its secure & not high incase snakey falls off!
ok so i went to get the thermometer got a dual temp one so i can measure the temp on both sides with just the one unit. temps in the viv are around 22c on the cool side and 33c on the warm side! he is still favouring the cool side hide in fact i still havent seen him leave it! also got him some rat pups today but am still gonna wait a while till i feed him!
Looks great! Don't forget they are nocturnal so you may not see him move about much. Perhaps he just prefers the larger hide, swap them around after he's settled and see which one he goes in then! Dont forget the guard around the bulb asap!
Would love to come for a nice cold pint but im in Bristol so quite far! Captain Morgan's a great name!
hey thanks bengy! right the guard is fitted now! also finally caught him out and about this morning! had to do a bit of spot cleaning as he had left a lovely presnt by the entrance to his large hide so i had to take out the large hide to clean it whilst i did that i moved the hides around so the small one is now in the cool side. he really does like the large one as he is now in there on the hot side.
Wow i used to live near there. I used to live in Halesowen and loved going to the pet shop in Merry Hill. When I was there though they didnt have much in the line of reptiles so I went to one shop in Dudley.
yeah went in merry hell today and they didnt have much in! the best ones round here are prestwood petzone who have loads of cool stuff as well as snakes and tails and scales in brierley hill its a bit small but she has loads in the way of frozen food in! and is only a 5min walk up the road!
good news he ate today just a small mouse stiked the second i showed it him! must have been hungry and then he dissapeared straight back in his hide with it hopefully this means he's getting used to his new surroundings and maybe soon i'll be able to get a photo of him to put on here.
Good news Paul! You prob won't see him for couple days while he digests it (not that you see much of him anyway!) Hopefully he'll come out of his shell a bit more after that (literally!). Pictures always liked here. & its great you know where the shops are for the Captain's lunch!
just rehomed
Posted - 01/11/2009 : 18:02:36
R.I.P Chester
